A central theme of this book is the importance of attachment relationships, that is, close relationships that play a special role in meeting needs for comfort and emotional security. In this chapter, we explore the nature of couples' attachment relationships throughout the transition to parenthood. We focus on two broad issues related to attachment bonds. First, we look at the importance of attachment relationships with spouses, friends, and family members, including comparisons across the two groups of couples and across the three major phases of the study. Second, for transition couples, we examine the development of the new parents' sense of attachment to their babies.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH SPOUSES, FRIENDS, AND FAMILY MEMBERS

As we noted in Chapter 2, there has been a growing recognition by relationship researchers that needs for comfort and security are universal, and evident at all stages of the life span. In other words, both children and adults have “attachment figures,” who play a special role in their lives. For this reason, we asked couples to name their attachment figures (or “most important people”) at each of the three main assessment points. We were interested in finding out which people they saw as central to meeting their needs for comfort and emotional security, and how this attachment network might change across the transition to parenthood.